The Journey of growing an African American baby girl’s hair

Most black women have a complicated relationship with their hair, whether you love it, hate it, abuse it, or pamper it. A black woman’s hair is a major part of our identity and when I was pregnant, it dawned on me…I am the one that will set the tone for my daughter’s relationship with her own mane. So I had to do it right! First thing I did? Google! And although I’m exaggerating when I say there were 3 results, there weren’t very many so I basically had to wing it. And Raegan’s hair is giving me a run for my money! Here’s her hair journey so far:

BIRTH:

Who is this little Asian baby that came out of me?! Full head of straight hair with plenty of cradle cap.

3 MONTHS:

Head grew….hair did not. At this point I was only using baby shampoo and would wash her hair about once a week. But I was still hopeful some more hair would sprout soon.

6 MONTHS:

Making a little bit of progress but this darn cradle cap would not go away! Her scalp seemed dry and her hair was at a stagnant length. I stuck to washing once a week with only baby shampoo because I didn’t want to “strip her hair.”

9 MONTHS:

Yasss, conditioner, yassss!! Somewhere around 8 months, I thought to myself while washing that dry hair, “one conditioning wash won’t hurt.” It was like the hair Fairies sprinkled their magic soft hair dust on Raegan in one single wash and I could see curls! From that moment, I decided to do something that that seems like common sense now: care for her hair the same way I care for mine! I mean, even though she doesn’t look like me, I’m pretty sure she’s my child so maybe her hair would react like mine. I treat her hair with the LOC method(leave-in, oil, creme) using natural products and co-wash 2-3 times per week. See the results so far for yourself->

I’ll post later about which products are my go-tos but what are your best practices for your little ones hair? Leave your input in the comments!